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Seeing as how we just finished our discussions on the EU, this article is about Russia's request to formally participate in an EU committee. Russia wants to have more of a say in Europe, and Germany seems open to the idea (note that Germany is a major European ally for Russia). Medvedev, Merkel, and Sarkozy will soon meet up to discuss the idea. Germany carries a lot of influence in the EU, but I'm curious as to how the other member states truly feel about it.

Sorry, but I just have to make the distinction (with Larkin) that Russia isn't trying to join the EU, but rather requesting to participate in an EU committee. The summit that is occurring between the 3 leaders is about strengthening the EU-Russia relationship. The NY Times article I posted was about Russia trying to join the EU political and security committee. Now that the summit has occurred, here are some more recent articles about it. Hopefully they're more clear. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/world/europe/19iht-summit.html?src=twrhp http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/20/c_13565527.htm

To Larkin's comment: Yes, that is very interesting, as we learned in class some countries join the EU for the fiscal benefits or the security benefits; however, they must join the entire EU and that is when we said the benefits that a niation get from the EU should outweight the things that the EU will make the country take part in that they may not want to. It's sort of funny that Russia would try to avoid the EU only in some areas.

There are intriguing ties forming between Russia and California - this article is about Medvedev requesting Gov. Schwarzenegger's guidance in making Russia the next Silicon Valley. Medvedev is trying to lead Russia toward modernization - the country is heavily investing in Skolkovo, a business school (that many consider Medvedev's vanity project). Russia is very dependent on its oil supply, so it will be interesting to see how successful Medvedev's attempts at modernization are.

Very CoPo-esque, in terms of US relations- good find Catherine. Its entertaining that after the Cold War, a race of modernization, Russia is now going to the Terminator for help in modernizing Russia.

The US has decided to pull support for Syria. They are not able to come to agreements with Russia, and after both the US and Russia have dropped bombs that have killed civilians, the ceasefire is "at risk". It is possible that with this the war will be over sooner rather than later with the rebels losing, but it will not be a peaceful end.

I found it interesting how both sides believe the other is "the bad guy" in this situation: US thinks Russia is helping Syrians attack civilians, and Russia is upset that the US 'accidentally' dropped a bomb. I hope that the ceasefire will hold out and that the war will be over soon. I wonder if there is something that can be done for the end to have a chance of being peaceful.

Months after the Ukraine crisis, Ukrainian officials still rely on Russia for gas sources. Interestingly, the economic fighting between Russia and Ukraine allows Russia and rebels in Ukraine to shift the focus of negotiations with Kiev from securing the border between Russia and Ukraine to the current economic problem. The pro-Western government in Kiev is forced to compromise with Moscow in order to receive essentials for the upcoming chilly winter. The deal shows that the Kremlin is switching from a military to an economic strategy to fight Ukraine's efforts to align itself with the West. Russia now imposes a trade war threat. Ukraine is the transit route for Russian gas supplies to 28 other countries. Ukraine cannot afford an economic shock from fuel shortages, because its economy is already expected to shrink this year by 7 percent.

After the US walked away from discussions on Syria, President Putin stepped up his country's military activity, with an enormous mobilization of first responders and civilians on the home front. In addition, the President redeployed nuclear weapons, making sure to leave some in place for American surveillance satellites to see. Mr. Putin also suggested the reopening of Russian military bases in Vietnam and Cuba. However, many see this as a distraction from the Russian economy, which is showing the first dip in income for the country's citizens since Putin assumed the Presidency in 2000. The nation's budget is also being heavily slashed, with healthcare and the military losing 33% and 6% of their funding, respectively. People inside Russia commented that the new budget leaves money for the military and police, and little else. Further speculation is that Mr. Putin is using the same strategy he employed in the Ukraine, which is to ramp up Russia's military and leverage that in diplomatic conversation with other nations. Some of Putin's comments also suggest that he wants to push Russia as a concern of the US Presidential election, and make sure that whoever the next President is will see Russia as a force to be reckoned with.

Russia has been accused of abusing their veto power by vetoing a UN resolution that would halt Aleppo airstrikes. Russia has supported the Assad regime, which has led to disagreements with the US.

Russia has recently shifted from policies designed to preserve self-sovereignty ideologically to more practical policies geared toward economic growth and security. Russia is now seeking to improve relations with the E.U. for these reasons, but Germany has requested concessions in return, mainly help in helping Transnistria, a region governed by a pro-Russian movement. It would be interesting to see how far Russia is willing to go in order to solidify relations.

It will also be interesting to see what comes from the talks both today and tomorrow between Russia, France, and Germany, and how France and Germany feel about Russia's involvement or if they feel that there are certain things that Russia must acheive to gain involvment on the level it wants.

Recently, Russia announced that it had created the first Covid-19 vaccine. They were immediately met with skepticism by many Western countries, as well as from doctors around the world. I find it very interesting that Russia named their vaccine "Sputnik V" after Sputnik 1, the first space satellite; it seems like Russia wants to mirror the Space Race by racing to find a vaccine while other countries focus on trials to ensure a potential vaccine's safety and effectiveness.

Although it is obvious that this vaccine has not undergone enough testing for researchers to fully understand its efficiency or possible side effects, I find it interesting that western countries were so quick to dismiss it completely. I recently read an article on Dr. Fauci that explained his time as a health official during the AIDS crisis. Because scientists did not know how the virus spread and the majority of its victims were a part of the gay community, researchers refused to go off the strict track of trials usually regulated. In short, thousands and thousands of ill people were rapidly dying yet being told they could not undergo treatment for fear of bad side effects or results. After lots of protest from the LBGTQ community, Fauci, as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, allowed for more experimental drug treatment due to the deadliness of the virus. Today, he is regarded as a hero and a scientific humanist who did the right thing when it was necessary. Yet when Russia follows a similar track, it is regarded as rushed and faked for nice press or some Cold-War feud against the US. Although the death rate was much higher, and subsequently side effects would matter less if the patient would ultimately die without intervention (whereas with Covid, side effects could be catastrophic by worsening large groups of the population who would have otherwise survived), I find it interesting that Americans still harbor so much resentment towards Russia (or at least assume that everything must be a competition). I wonder how this was reported on in other countries.

I hope my annotations saved

Great use of Diigo annotation tool, Anay!

While Ukraine has been able to use social media to their advantage by spreading information, increasing awareness of the problems they face, and pressuring companies and governments to aid them, Russia has been fighting back with national and international and propaganda campaigns. This struggle has caused a different kind of war to rage on between them, a cyber-war.

Because of how strict much of Russia's information laws and restrictions have been even before the war, getting accurate information about the conflict from inside Russia is nearly impossible. Along with that, it is extremely easy for misinformation to spread across social media and news outlets.

Interesting observations, Subby, Juliana, Slava and Matteo. Add to this the fact that under Vladimir Putin's iron hand, censorship within Russia is intense. Opposition to Putin's government has been effectively silenced within Russia, and is being replaced by shows of strength and prosperity. Good article about this in Monday's NYT here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/06/world/europe/moscow-war-ukraine-mood.html

Further development in the relationship between the US and Russia in Syria. John Kerry will meet with Russia's Sergey Lavrov in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday along with foreign ministers from a few other countries that support the rebels and possibly Iran (which supports Assad). PS: This article is way more interesting than my first one so I recommend this one more unless you're in the mood to question humanity and be sad.

I read this article and Aleisha's article about the Syrian civil war, and I was surprised at how complicated the conflict is. I also was not aware of the growing tension between the United States and Russia, so it was interesting reading about the power dynamic happening again. The CNN article, published just one day before the NYT article, portrays US involvement very differently, so I'm interested to see how that develops.

Russians head to the polls in what is expected to be an easy victory for the ruling United Russia Party. The power of the opposition parties has been significantly reduced thanks to crackdowns on political dissent by Putin and his government. It is interesting to watch Russia fall into authoritarianism while many lesser developed countries are moving towards democracy.

I wonder what it will take for Eastern European "democracies" to hold relatively fair elections (thinking of Belarus here as an example). Based on the corruption detailed in the article, it seems that dictator presidents kind of filled the vacuum left by the fall of the USSR and people haven't been able to break their iron hold since.

Yes, lots of corruption. Yet the 2004-05 orange revolution in Ukraine led to a time of high participation democracy. It's a mixed bag of mostly corrupt regimes, some more so than others, Russia the worst.

I kept seeing articles about the escalation between Russia and Ukraine, and that U.S. intelligence believes Russia may try to even invade Ukraine with 175,000 troops in early of next year. I'm not sure what the issue is, so I read this article on what it is that Russia wants from Ukraine. Still a little unsure. Disclaimer: this news source is an international source, but U.S. funded, so bias warning.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-front.html Article from the NY Times that sparked my interest.

Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart reach an agreement between Russia and the US intended to reduce conflict in Syria, however agreement is plagued with mistrust and loopholes.

MOSCOW - When the Russian authorities began a series of investigations this spring into the business affairs of a prominent opposition lawmaker, it was widely viewed as thinly veiled political retribution. But in a sign of how quickly the tables can now be flipped in such disputes, allies of the politician, Gennady V.

This article concerns attempts by Russian lawmakers to target opposition party members who they believe have violated Duma policy by "engaging in business or other paid activities". The controversy over the hypocrisy present in the aforementioned investigations sheds light on a question that interests me greatly: will Russia's corrupt and billionaire-driven government be sustainable in the long term? This particular case also raises questions about the mechanisms used by the ruling party, United Russia, in maintaining control over the Russian government.

This article also speaks to political culture, a key part of comparative politics analysis. Russia's transition to democracy has been halting, and many CoPo scholars say this is because Russia has a civic (and by extension political) culture that is used to authoritarianism of one sort or another. The notion of rule by democratic law is taking a long time to take hold. Is this explanation adequate? Compared to other countries?

In the past Russia had always prohibited gay rights demonstration, beating the protestors. Here the European Court stepped in and ruled that it violated their policies on human rights because they stopped them from assembling and discriminated against their sexual orientation. This action of the European Court shows one of the downsides to Russia for being involved in a transnational organizaiton - the government was not able to do what it wanted (even if it wasn't the right thing) and they had to pay a fine - they had surrrendered their autonomy and had to pay.

Russia hinted that they wanted to calm any U.S. fears about building a nuclear power plant in Venezuela, whose government is not exactly the closest of the United States' friends. Just an illustration of lingering tension over socialism vs. capitalism, the Cold War, and the spread of nuclear technology. Russia has been building plants worldwide in a mission to sell nuclear energy.

One thing that jumped out at me when I read the article is that Russia's first reaction when announcing this plan was to attempt to quell US fears and tell the US that we shouldn't be getting involved. Interesting that other countries see the US as so involved in their affairs that the first thing they do when they do something controversial that does not involve us to to justify it to us...

Russia is starting to open up to better relations with the West, especially a security alliance like NATO because they have common security interests. Russia has finally withdrawn its troops from Georgia, allowing the dialogue to take place. I wonder whether Russia intends apply for NATO membership within a few years.

I believe this article is highly pertinent to our discussions on globalization. Historically, there was an East-West divide, exemplified by the Iron Curtain. However, Russia's attempts to improve cooperation and communication with NATO signifies the start of deconstruction of this divide. Even if the NATO summit does not itself improve relations, I wonder if it will still serve as a precedent for future talks.

Russia is hitting its highest daily cases of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic despite being the first to authorize a vaccine. They have plentiful supplies but like the U.S., they are suffering from vaccine hesitancy. Putin is ordering a one-week lockdown starting October 30th.

On second thought (in response to my initial comment on "Amnesty International to close Hong Kong offices this year"), I think that maybe a decrease in freedom can also lead to an increase in equality (in this case fewer virus cases) in a non-economic situation. Although, this lockdown in Russia is in a way economic because poorer people will suffer more and have a harder time making money.

I was surprised to hear that Russia had such low vaccination rates since they were the first to authorize the vaccine. The article says that public attitudes are "lax", especially with conflicting signals from authorities, and I wonder if these lax views on vaccination relate in any way to nationalism or to their views on freedom vs. equality.

the EU proposed new sanctions on Russia in response to so-called "referendums" in four Ukrainian regions. more import bans on russian products. Expected to deprive Moscow of an additional $6.7 billion.